Spanish Fork homeowner finds old well under his driveway

SPANISH FORK — Brian Terry has lived in his Spanish Fork home for more than 20 years. He said over the last few years he started to notice a downward slope on his driveway.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” Terry said.

It was not until Tuesday as he was pulling out of his driveway when that slope caved in leaving a huge hole. At first glance, it looked like a sinkhole.

“I was able to pull enough of it out that I climbed down in there and kind of got an idea of what it really was,” Terry said, only to realize he had found what appeared to be an old well.

“It was about 8 feet deep.” Terry was able to spot a rusty broken pipe surrounded by rocks that appeared to be carefully stacked on top of each other.

“There were some wooden pillars that were going across that I assume as some sort of support. So it was resting on those.” Terry said he called Spanish Fork City to let them know what he found. He said they told they could not find any sort of records related to a well where is property is located, which left Terry shocked considering his home is almost as old as Spanish Fork itself.

“The original part of the house was built in 1890, so we have found some things over the years that kind of predates the house.” The well, newly discovered, joins that list.

According to a picture Terry found of his property the Utah Country Records website, the home was surrounded by orchards.

“To think that this is where they had to get water into the house and maybe used it for the farm or livestock, you know, it seems like it was a simpler time then,” Terry said.

Terry said he wishes he could keep the well or decorate it, but it’s blocking the middle of his driveway and has trailers parked in the back of his home.

“It’s been kind of an adventure,” Terry said.

Terry is now tasked with filling the well back up and is looking for quotes to seal it with concrete.